Tate’s 6th Birthday and Summertime Fun

Hey there—

It was so good to talk to you again on Sunday, and I was able to read both of your last two emails. It’s been so fun to hear about your area, and the culture there, and I love all the food pictures! Half of the food doesn’t look recognizable to me. But I’m glad it tastes good, and hope you can figure out how to get enough to eat so you’re not too hungry. And man, you weren’t joking about the ants! I loved hearing about your travel experience, and I think it’s so cool that you get to have this adventure. 

You sounded a bit discouraged when you called. I’m sorry you have to spend so much time doing administrative things, and that people are not very receptive. Missionary work must be so challenging. I think you are just brand new to the area, and as time goes on you will learn to not only understand the languages better, but I think you will learn to understand the people and their perspectives better. And you will also figure out how to get your work done more efficiently so that you can spend more time teaching. Don’t discount the work that you do strengthening the member who are already attending. They need the help and influence of missionaries, and that is a good use of your time and energies. 

I mentioned to you that Anna Geckler had come home from her mission. She and Brandon opened their mission calls at the same time. He got called to Brazil and she got called to California. They were both really excited about the areas where they were called to serve. Anna has been out for several months, but she is battling fatigue. I think she has always needed more sleep than other people, but on the mission there just was not the opportunity to sleep in or take a nap when needed. And occasionally she would just crash and spend and entire day sleeping. She loved her mission, but the fatigue just became too much to bear. So she transferred home, and will complete her time as a service missionary. I think it was a really good choice for her. I think you are still adjusting to mission life and battling jet lag. And you are adjusting to the heat and a new diet, and biking all day. Missionary work is physically and emotionally tiring work, but you will find your groove. I’m so proud of you, and so pleased to watch you grow through this experience. 

This is what we’ve been doing:

1. It’s still hotter than Hades here. Tate had swim lessons all week, and I made a mom-friend by the poolside. AND THEN. I realized she was a crazy lady that I had seen on Facebook. I KEPT MY COOL while she tried to convince me that teen centers at the high schools are a total sham and basically a tool for the government to take away my children. You should be so proud of me. 

2. We hit Cherry Hill a couple of times this week, and the kids talked me into a trip into the pie pantry. 😋 They opened a new waterslide that’s super fun. But Tate isn’t tall enough to go without a parent, so I got to check it out too!

3.  Grandma and Grandpa Rawson celebrated their 48th wedding anniversary! 

4. On Wednesday night we had a stake dance for mutual at a barn down by the Judd’s house. I took Tate and he loved it. He found his own little corner and danced by himself. He was the last one off the dance floor. He’s adorable. 

5. I had a super embarrassing moment at the dance. When we were at youth camp and out boating I was sitting on the boat behind Lincoln Bird. Lincoln purposely put his foot in the water so that it would spray me in the face the whole way back to the dock. I told him to knock it off, and he wouldn’t, and I said I was going to get him back. He probably forgot all about it. So on Wednesday night I was getting ready to leave the dance, and I had half a cup of water in my hand. I turned around and Lincoln was standing right behind me. Without even thinking about it I threw my water in his face and took off running with Tate. What am I? 12?! lol. So immature. I had to take him some Mountain Dew and sour patch kids as a peace offering. Luckily he had a good sense of humor about it, but I felt pretty stupid picking a fight with a teenager. 

6. Tate had his 6th birthday on Thursday! He didn’t even ask for a party. What a relief! But we did spend the day celebrating. We made crepes for breakfast and went to see Despicable Me 4. I tripped up the stairs at the theater and threw my popcorn all over the place. And my knee had a nice bruise to show for it. That night we met Dad at the bike shop and bought Tate a cool new bike for his birthday. Then we did baseball, dinner, cake and ice cream. It was a fun day. 

7. Jett had more all-star baseball games and his team went all the way to the championship game. They lost the very last game with a controversial strike out. It was a bummer, but Jett played well and got an awesome medal. We had to wait until after the championship game to leave for Island Park, so it was a LATE night pulling up to the cabin. 

8. Michael spent his week on the river, but he was able to take a few days off to join us at Island Park. He wasn’t able to leave Riggins until around 9, and it was an hour drive. He pulled over to sleep at a rest stop in Montana at some point, but he made it in time to meet us for breakfast Saturday morning. The kid has intense Chaco lines!

9. We spent Saturday in Yellowstone National Park. We saw Old Faithful, the Grand Canyon, a huge waterfall, and a bear! We used Jett’s 4th grade national parks pass to get in—much to his dismay. He does NOT like national parks!

10. Sunday morning President Biden announced he was no longer seeking reelection, and he was endorsing Kamala Harris for president. It wasn’t surprising given the past few weeks of news coverage. But it was still shocking. Nothing like this has happened in American Politics before. Republicans are angry about it, and are threatening lawsuits. They think Biden should be removed from office. Democrats are elated to have a new candidate, and Kamala has raised over $100 million already. It’s fascinating to a political nerd like myself. 

I love you Ty! Until next week. 

Xoxo, Mom